The present invention relates generally to an electronic camera designed to phototake a subject using a two-dimensional image pickup device, and more particularly to an electronic still camera comprising a display means for displaying an electronic image while it is phototaken or after it has been phototaken.
So far, an optical finder and an electronic view finder have been known for an electronic still camera finder.
A typical optical finder is disclosed in EP0722106A2. An optical system designed to view an external image while a liquid crystal display field frame is superposed on the external image is disclosed in JP-A 8-201912.
With both finders, however, it is impossible to view a phototaken electronic image through them because they are of the type that an external object is viewed through them apart from the electronic image phototaken by an phototaking optical system.
Some electronic view finders comprising a liquid crystal display element of small size to be attached to a back side of a camera body are disclosed in JP-A's 8-46834 and 8-51561. A loupe optical system designed to magnify and display an electronic image displayed a display element is also available.
One problem with the aforesaid electronic view finder of the direct view type that a two-dimensional display element is attached to the back side of the camera body is that the two-dimensional display element used must be of small size because it is impossible to increase the size of the camera body. Another problem is that when a high-precision image is displayed, it is difficult to take a full view of the image with the naked eye because the display screen used is too small. With the loupe optical system, on the other hand, it is difficult to achieve a compact electronic camera because the axial size of the loupe, that is, the size of the loupe in the depth direction of the camera becomes large.